We went to Falset, just for one night, to see an aunt.
They are becoming very rare these aunts of ours, though of course we are the aunts and uncles of the next generation.
Falset is famous for wine and olive oil and for me it is always a great pleasure to visit this particular aunt because she likes to eat out. Every day. Breakfast and lunch. It’s heaven!
Why? Well, my vegetarian sensibilities can make eating in other peoples homes rather awkward in such a meat eating culture. (I say sensibilities because although I was 100% vegetarian for 30 years I began to include first fish and then chicken and even beef when necessary, in my diet.
But from January 2013 I intend to renew my vows and go 100% again)
In a restaurant I can chose what I want and don’t need to eat everything for fear of offending my host.
Today we had lunch in the swimming-pool restaurant in Falset. There was a Menu for 9 or 10 euros, depending on if you had three or four courses
Here it is translated into English:
Starter
Green Salad or Fruit juice
First Course
Macaroni(with minced beef)
Caesar Salad with chicken and parmesan
Meat and vegetable soup – a consommé
Chickpea stew with pigs stomach
Second Course
Nuggets with vegetables – no idea what this was but I’m sure it was meat
Steak with vegetables
Hake with ratatouille
Knuckles of pork with potatoes
Pudding
Fruit or crema catalana or ice-cream or yoghurt
You get bread, wine and water included in this price which makes it very reasonable and a great way to eat your main meal – if you eat meat!
So what did I have?
First the salad, after checking that it didn’t include lots of ham and sausage as happened the day before in another lovely but very traditional country restaurant (there was a van outside loaded up with a huge and very dead wild boar!)
Then I asked for just the ratatouille with chips, minus the fish, which was utterly delicious
I finished off with Crema Catalana of course.
As I am going to be totally vegetarian again very soon in a very carnivorous society I am looking at ways I can continue to eat out cheaply and well without feeling hard done by. Vegetarians are very invisible in Catalunya – it reminds me of Britain in the 1970’s when you were seen as very eccentric and cranky if you said you didn’t want to eat meat or fish. People here have told me they don’t know any vegetarians! (Is that a bit like saying you don’t know any gay people without realising they probably are just keeping quiet in your presence?) I remember in the UK things began to change gradually until now of course it is unusual not to have some dishes marked with a V.
Did it really all begin with the restaurant Cranks?
Traditional food here is pretty ‘hearty’ and I get the feeling that not getting stuck into a side of pork is sometimes seen as a bit namby-pamby. I was too comfortable in my vegetarian-friendly world of Hackney and then Penzance. Now I am going to get a bit more animal-conscious in a not so understanding environment. Hopefully with a more mature ability to accept the dietary decisions of others than when I did this the first time round, I am going to start being a more visible vegetarian!
PS and to celebrate my new committment I have created a hashtag on Twitter in order to share information about restaurants in Catalunya which offer vegetarian food #veggiecat
If you know of anywhere interesting please add it there.
